Designing and Implementing an Early Literacy Screening Protocol: Suggestions for the Speech-Language Pathologist.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2001) recently asserted that speech-language pathologists can and should play an important role in promoting literacy for young children with communicative impairments. Early literacy screening provides a valuable tool for speech-language pathologists to use for the timely detection of difficulties in literacy achievement. In addition, results of early literacy screening can be used to guide intervention and instruction. This article provides a rationale for incorporating early literacy screening into service delivery. It also makes recommendations for determining which children and what areas of literacy should be targeted in screening activities. Suggestions for interpreting findings are also provided, as are strategies for using screening to guide early literacy intervention.